Melbourne Victory vs Sydney - Rd 1 A-League Preview & Betting Tips

The Grand Final rematch is the headline act in Round 1.

Oddschecker

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Thu, 5 Oct, 12:51 AM

MATCH SUMMARY

The Grand Final rematch is the headline act in Round 1. Both Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC were the standout teams last season and fittingly played out a memorable finale with the latter eventually prevailing on penalties. Sydney’s squad is largely the same while Melbourne has rebuilt their squad with the likes of Mark Milligan, Rhys Williams and old favourite Kosta Barbarouses coming in along with imports Matias Sanchez and Thomas Deng.

3 KEY POINTS

SYDNEY FC lost one game in the last A-league season and just two overall (including the FFA Cup)

SYDNEY FC is unbeaten in 12 matches across all competitions

MELBOURNE were 10-1-3 in home matches last season and had the second best points differential in home matches across the league

THE HISTORY

Sydney has turned things around in this clash

Sydney FC won all four contests between the sides last season including the Grand Final. Prior this run the Sky Blues hadn’t won in seven attempts against Melbourne

The three regular season matches between the sides last season were settled by one goal each time

In three of their four matches last season, Melbourne Victory scored the opening goal but ultimately lost the match

Sydney’s four-game winning streak against Melbourne is a club record against the Victory

Win-Draw-Win

Sydney FC

The reigning champions seemed to have a little bit extra when challenged last season by the Victory and that may still be the case here. Barring the departures of Filip Holosko and Danny Vukovic, Sydney look to be even better (on paper) than last season and will benefit from the inclusion of Luke Wilshire to the squad. The big question is whether Andrew Redmayne can live up to the standard set by Vukovic last year who had arguably the best ever season for a goalkeeper in the A-league. Kevin Muscat has recruited well in Melbourne but the big word is that the squad isn’t deep enough. Fingers crossed for him that the team stays injury-free.

HALF-FULL DOUBLEMELBOURNE VICTORY / SYDNEY FC

Going for some value here with this option prevailing once last season

FIRST GOALSCORER

Besart Berisha

Berisha won his second Golden Boot last season when finishing tied with Jamie Maclaren. He also scored the first goal in the Grand Final against Sydney FC.

TOTAL GOALS OVER OR UNDER

OVER 2.5

There is never much between these sides and we don’t think this will be a boring encounter. Take the Overs as we anticipate at last 3-4 goals